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92 Comments
- JeffRyemon, on 01/15/2009, -3/+56He died in 2005, why do we get this now in 2009?
- inactive, on 01/15/2009, -4/+35Rest in Peace..
- stvidguy, on 01/15/2009, -8/+36Sitting here at a computer, I have no way of preventing tragedies like this from happening. I wish there was a way to save the world.
- inlovingmemory, on 01/15/2009, -4/+28***** hell that is despicable, especially in this day and age.
- adrumm, on 01/15/2009, -0/+19This sounds like an extreme case of diffusion of responsibility. Every nurse or doctor assumed that someone else would take care of finding the "alternative method of feeding", but no one bothered to step up and administer the alternate method. As a result, somebody died. Way to go.
- tljenson, on 01/15/2009, -5/+20You think that is bad I am dying right now ***** and the reason is that I don't have health insurance! Socialized medicine may be bad in some way's but if you sitting where I am it would be a god send ***** YOU *****!!!
- chicagojack, on 01/15/2009, -2/+16Saddest story of the day. Feel sorry for the man and his family
- mickstephenson, on 01/15/2009, -5/+17http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
The World Health Organisation disagrees, but what do they know? You've been fed propaganda all your life so you're well versed on the subject.
Frankly the reason that every failing in the NHS or in Britain's system in general is front page news on Digg just goes to show people just love to find every little piece of information which affirms their world view and ignore everything else.
If this is what you want to hear I'll give it to you
"America is the best at everything" now go give yourself a big self celebratory blowjob. - Alli3388, on 01/16/2009, -1/+10Canada has universal health care, and I've never heard of anyone starving to death here! I have, however, heard of children in the states going bankrupt and losing their homes and everything else they own just because they got cancer, or children being left to die painfully because their parents can't afford the $250,000 it costs to get their child a transplant since they didn't have the proper health insurance. Now which system is better?? I'll go with universal health care ANY day, thanks. Blame this one of the ***** staff this guy has the great misfortune of being under the care of.
- Barackalypse, on 01/15/2009, -3/+11Why must we always pander to senseless emotion instead of having rational discussions about things? Disabled man dies, socialized medicine sucks! 40 year old single mom dying of cancer whose insurance denies her experimental treatment, then they whine free market healthcare sucks! How about we look at the vast majority of cases and leave our the useless emotional pandering?
- Matt2k, on 01/16/2009, -0/+6> The only option left was to insert a feeding tube into his body but by now he was too weak to undergo the necessary surgery. He died five days later.
Wrong. A naso-gastrointestinal tube with sedative would have done the trick. Basically they just drop the feeding tube down your nose and into your stomach. If the patient is close to death from malnutrition, I'd be hard pressed to accept an explanation why this wasn't done.
In the case of young or mentally challenged patients, there must be an advocate. A parent or guardian. You have to ask why the parents didn't say something after all that time? - mickstephenson, on 01/15/2009, -1/+6This is due to negligence of the staff working on that day, it could happen in any system.
- xero69, on 01/16/2009, -0/+5This was an error on the part of ONE doctor. FTA:
"It(investigation) found the doctor was under the impression that the nurses had been feeding Martin via a nasal feeding tube, when this was not the case." - Samurai77, on 01/16/2009, -0/+5Devils Advocate here, FTA he was a much loved son, did the family not visit in all that time? Didn't one of them say how is he eating? a glucose drip is fine for a while but there are no nutrients and on top of that he pulled it out most of the time. Why didn't the family say something? Doctors Nurses everyone make mistakes speak up ask questions learn to question authority.
Not trying to minimize the tragedy, just saying. - LondonChick, on 01/16/2009, -2/+6You Americans just can't help spouting off all of your force fed bull *****.Please don't tell me that anybody with a decent income has the "choice" of insurance. Which by the way, most average American families CAN NOT afford it. Even if you can, your health insurance companies are ready to leave their customers for dead. You ask " Why should I not be able to make my own decision between a new TV or my health?" No reason, I'm quite happy to let you all save a few extra dollars for that super sized Big Mac you need so much. I for one, would rather be paying higher taxes with the peace of mind that my family and friends will not lose their homes because they get sick and have to foot the $200,000 bill just for a chance the survive.
- yourbrokenoven, on 01/16/2009, -0/+4how the ***** could the countless people taking care of this man not notice that he hasn't been fed for weeks? Personally, I take note of one missed meal, as a big thing, and certainly a couple days without nutrition would warrant attention. Each nurse and physician who didn't do his or her part to rectify this situation should be thrown in jail at the very least for negligent homicide. Ridiculous. Inserting a nasogastric feeding tube can be done nonsurgically, is minimally invasive, and can be done in under 5 minutes by one nurse. Inserting an actual PEG tube takes a little sedation, but is also a very very minor procedure, and I see no reason that being weak is an excuse for not performing the procedure since, commonly, we here in the states do the same procedure on terminally ill cancer patients with barely any time left to live.
Major changes need to happen to this crazy healthcare system. - inactive, on 01/16/2009, -0/+4Well you're not doing a very good job sitting at your computer. Its best just to let your apathy kick in full force like the rest of us.
- inactive, on 01/15/2009, -6/+10This would never happen in America.
/s - InsanePenguin08, on 01/16/2009, -0/+4Dude....really?
'/s' means "end sarcasm."
God I hope you knew that. - akatsuki, on 01/16/2009, -2/+6Ah... the anti national healthcare initiative continues on Digg.
Hmmm... maybe we should start posting stories of denied healthcare under the US system in response? Or how our pockets are draining for mediocre care? Or how much the insurance companies and pharma companies that are sponsoring this campaign suck? - stix213, on 01/15/2009, -0/+4It looks like this is just one case in a report of multiple that was recently released.
- MrARPA, on 01/16/2009, -2/+5The NHS is actually pretty good, and this is not representative, which is why a story like this is news. But many of the posters here take inequities in the dismal US system as "normal" and can't see the huge US healthcare problems that are right under their nose. Let's face it you could fill far more papers with the US health system failures than any of the universal systems in Europe.
- maxlightz, on 01/16/2009, -0/+3if only they were using the checklist
- MalarkeyPN, on 01/15/2009, -1/+4Poor guy.
- mcrumley, on 01/15/2009, -0/+3Because Ann Abraham is publishing the results of her inquiry later this month.
- zeitgueist, on 01/16/2009, -1/+4I've noticed a ton of these articles lately, sounds like a decent viral anti-UHC campaign.
- Kolbeck10, on 01/15/2009, -0/+3Thank you for the summary.
- pogfreak, on 01/16/2009, -0/+3Its the same story on both sides. You get a story about someone dieing in a US hospital and "people like you" are damning the system just like the people in here are damning the British system.
Mistakes happen, doctors and nurses are human, every death is a tragedy. Internet armchair politicians need to stfu. - docbob84, on 01/16/2009, -0/+3I don't know where you live, mike, but if it's in the US, then hospitals most certainly DO have the right to refuse to treat you. I think what you're thinking of is the EMTALA, which requires emergency departments to treat emergency conditions, without regards to whether the patient is able to pay. It is very specific to emergency rooms; other departments in the hospital and doctors clinics and offices are not included. It is also very specific about what constitutes an emergency. It's limited to very acute things. If you were having a heart attack, they would be required to treat you for that. If you had a tumor on your heart but no acute symptoms, they can do nothing. If you have a heart attack *AND* lung cancer, they will treat the heart attack and let you deal with your other problems on your own.
To be honest, it has to be this way under the current system. In Illinois, at least, we get back approximately 60 cents for every dollar spent on care for the uninsured and those on Medicaid. That doesn't mean we get 60% of what we would charge people who DO have insurance, that means we actually lose almost have the money we spend on patient care. Even that doesn't take into account the salaries of people working on the patient, just the supplies and medicines that are used on them. And the money we do get back takes an average of 3-4 months to get from the state's coffers to us.
One department per hospital that is forced to do this can handle it; it gets subsidized by other departments income, and the money spent per patient in the ER is usually relatively small. If we were forced to do, say, transplant surgeries that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and get only half that money back, hospitals wouldn't be able to function. It sucks, but the unfortunate thing about medicine is, someone has to pay for it. Whether it's taxes (universal care) or insurance companies and medicaid, the money has to come from somewhere. - kevyn, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2very saddening
- alexforcefive, on 01/16/2009, -1/+3stix and dagnome, your attitudes are throwbacks to victorian times. There are many, MANY reasons for hardship and only a small minority of those are down to "not thinking ahead".
Believe it or not, some people in this world are born into poverty. And for all the reader's digest tv special will smith rags-to-riches movies in the world, it's almost impossible to start from poverty and end up with something even resembling a real life. - kelpee, on 01/16/2009, -1/+3My father underwent cardiac care in a hospital in Mexico. They did a great job with him.
I live in Canada and I love socialized medicine and I've never had a problem getting the care my family needs.
This sadly could have happened anywhere under any system. It's sad and it's due to incompetence and poor communications. - alexforcefive, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2"welfare eugenics"? really?
like... really? that's what you're going with? - glockman69, on 01/15/2009, -1/+3That is messed up!
- stix213, on 01/16/2009, -1/+3You mean those 26 days. The negligence of the staff working their for nearly a month let a man starve to death.
- inactive, on 01/16/2009, -1/+3That day? What about all the other days that he was supposed to be fed or what about all the other days when his feeding tube was supposed to be checked for blockage and infection? It seems like it was more than 'negligence of the staff working on THAT day".
- ChayesFSS, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2what a downer of a story
- dheeruyadav, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2This is really bad.
- Me1000, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2Find me a case prior to this one!
Seriously, this has absolutely nothing to do with who is paying for it! - esc27, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2I hope that doctor hasn't gone one day without remembering the man he starved to death, and takes care to ensure nothing even remotely like that happens again.
- inactive, on 01/17/2009, -0/+2We could all start listing the tabloid greivances against your non-universal system... would you like us to start?
- Meocross, on 01/17/2009, -0/+1This ***** has got to stop.
- inactive, on 01/16/2009, -0/+1Does the date really change the story? It's not like it was from the 1820's.
- mickstephenson, on 01/16/2009, -3/+4Ah "gun held to my head" I love it, the Libertarian mantra, it's all guns, violence, completely lacking in wit and subtlety.
FYI rationing occurred during the Second World War, and worked reasonably well, there is no reason IMO why things in the UK such as Job Seekers Allowance shouldn't be offset by Food Vouchers which would prevent that money being spent on alcohol and cigarettes, and I also don't see any reason why everyone shouldn't be entitled to those vouchers which would entitle people to basic food allowance, excluding luxury food items, which could be bought with standard currency.
It's fair, no one can starve, everyone has to eat anyway, and it would likely improve peoples health if they are given a "this is what you can survive on guideline" but they have the freedom to buy anything extra they want too. - borez, on 01/15/2009, -4/+5The hounslowchronicle, are you actually ***** kidding me. Stories from this place: http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/11185/50502/t/27 ...
Ending up on the front page of Digg? ***** me with a large ***** stick, of all the stories, from all the places, from all the newspapers around the world... ***** Hounslow ***** chronicle... On Digg?
There is something vastly amiss here. - Me1000, on 01/16/2009, -2/+3Because this couldn't happen under our current form of health"care"?
Ever heard of malpractice insurance? - mgsdeadcell, on 01/15/2009, -2/+3damn. this is bad. i have a disabled niece with cerebral palsy and without anyone being there to feed her, she maybe would have ended up like this poor fellow a feeding tube would have been just one way of take care of the guy. stories like this just make me sick to my stomach. even though this story is old, it's the first time i've heard of it. may he rest in peace.
- mikecx, on 01/15/2009, -5/+6tljenson, this is almost certainly going to be the most insensitive thing i'll say all year but I really don't care. If you are dying, go to a hospital, they cannot refuse to treat you.
Second, what prevents you from getting health insurance? If you make enough to own a computer and be on the internet (assuming you aren't at the library, which from your digg record would put you there all day instead of working which would then earn you money and the possibility of healthcare.) you should earn enough for healthcare. Yes, private healthcare has its flaws as does socialized healthcare. Difference is, I don't have to pay for people who rather have internet then healthcare. I don't mind paying for medicare and medicaid but at some point it becomes a matter of priorities. Steak dinner vs ramen noodles, car vs bike, internet vs healthcare.
As a side note, you'll find that calling people names, swearing at them, and YELLING, is an easy way to get ignored. Honestly, after calling me and everyone else here that disagrees dumb *****, i'd be surprised if anyone else here gives a ***** that you are dying.
Finally, I do feel that what happened in the article is a huge tragedy from a series of small mistakes. Hopefully they can find a way to prevent this in the future.
That's my $0.02, digg me down if you must. - alexforcefive, on 01/16/2009, -1/+2it's something negative about nationalised welfare, who cares about the source? digg digg digg! why should my money pay for your blah blah blah... the free market will fix everything!
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